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Day: September 1, 2011

This endless activism of the left, over mere trifles like t-shirt slogans strikes me as a bit hysterical, and it scares me, as it’s more evidence of the left ruling offside speech they deem wrong. Today, a mildly offensive kiddies t-shirt slogan. Tomorrow, criticism of the Sainted Obama. Am I wrong to think like this and fear their tactics?

Clothing store advertises a crass and tasteless T-Shirt (via BoingBoing), Twitter kicks up a fuss, Change.org host a petition calling for a boycott until the T-Shirt is removed, Village Voice report the T-Shirt is pulled.

Am I in dream world or is everything above about as Liberal, nay Libertarian, as it comes?

If a business is stupid enough to think that it can sell this T-shirt and maintain a “good” image then more fool them. They should be thanking the Twitterati for pointing out how stupid they were being; they’re a million strong free focus group!

I know Jackart isn’t opposed to changing the world to make it a better place, he’s ex-armed forces after all, [1] so why so aghast at people trying to non-violently, non-coercively trying to improve the world?

This is a small cause surely, but signing a petition and getting outraged on twitter are small gestures too, in fact they can be quite fun. Libertarians seem to do little else, as far as I can tell, than be outraged on Twitter. People getting worked up on the internet isn’t a sign of the coming leftpocolypse.

But this small cause is part of a larger movement for equality. Chris today shows us that part of the inequality of outcome we see between women and men can reasonably be ascribed to women being conditioned to be less confident and less competitive than men. When men and women are conditioned to be competitive they are equally ruthless.

So the (non-violent, non-state) protesters Jackart attributes such malice to are fighting for a world Libertarians should support in a way Libertarians should support.

That’d be a more efficient world, something many Libertarians argue for. That’d be more people reaching their full potential, something many Libertarians argue for. It’d even be a more free world because women (and men) would have less outside influence on their lives, again, something many Libertarians argue for.

This just goes to show that certain strands of right-wing libertarian thinking contain more than a little bit of identity politics for selfish (usually white) males.

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[1] Yes, yes, the military is the second least productive [2] industry on the planet, but people sign up because they want to change the world for the better.

[2] Unemployment is the least productive industry in the world and is one industry where the US can still claim to be world leading.

Manufacturing cigarettes is not something I have a problem with. Pointless hobby in my eyes, but someone has to make the things if someone wants to smoke them. In one of the worst PR moves I’ve seen (even if it is rather ingenious), Phillip Morris have put in a Freedom Of Information request at Stirling University for research into why kids start smoking.

Get ’em while they’re young, as the Jesuits say, and they’re yours for life. Stirling University are fighting the request on the grounds that it would jeopardise future research and would involve the university in carrying out research for a tobacco giant they would never be allowed to themselves.

If I weren’t so appalled by the barefaced cheek I’d be impressed by the barefaced cheek.